New Ways for Computers to Interact with People and Physcial Objects

This video podcast really opened my eyes to the possibilities for new ways to interact with computers. Pranav Mistry demonstrates many amazing technologies he’s developed to help us interact with the objects around us in more natural ways. Check out the video to see demonstrations of:

• Wearable computers which project the user interface onto walls, blank sheets of paper, or even skin
• The ability to place real, physical objects on computer screens and the computer interprets the object as a request for information. For example, placing an airline boarding pass on the screen would retrieve directions on how to walk to the departure gate.
• Facial recognition software that retrieves information about the person and/or their expertise and then projects information about the person onto their shirt
• The ability to use your fingers to grab text and/or images in printed material and drop it into a document you are editing by touching a touch screen.

See the video on the TED.com site or download it from iTunes.

Hip Hop Stars Who are Internet Technology and Social Media Savy

When I listened to this podcast from Stanford Technology Ventures, I was amazed to hear hip-hop artists who were articulate about the use of the internet, crowd sourcing, social media, digital branding, and more as ways of promoting themselves, their music, their merchandise (or "merch"), and more.  This is basically a panel disucssion in front of a crowd of Stanford University MBA students.   One of them makes a remark about people not taking him seriously but "five million ring tones later" he gets the last laugh.

Successful Independent Promotion: From Artist to Entrepreneur

Hip-hop artists Quincy Jones III and Chamillionaire discuss mastering the business side of the music industry. Keeping up with cutting-edge technologies, production logistics, and finding creative ways to gain direct audience contact are essential tactics for the self-produced artist in the digital age.

Be sure to check out the video or listen to the audio on iTunes.